In theaters
Director: Craig Gillespie
Starring: Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Allison Janney, Julianne Nicholson, Bobby Cannavale
Award season always brings us a biopic or two, and perhaps the most noteworthy of this year’s batch is I, Tonya, the story of two-time Olympian figure skater Tonya Harding. Like a true biopic, it starts in childhood, hits all the big moments, and even ends with the text that tells us what happened after.
It’s not completely true to the form, though. I, Tonya makes the particularly interesting choice to not just acknowledge conflicting stories, but it even weaves them in and out of the narrative. Often a character will preface a scene by commenting on whether or not it actually happened. Sometimes you’ll see a second character’s alternate version of events. When a character breaks the fourth wall and tells you not to believe what you’re about to see, it’s a very fun way of conveying just how tough it is to know whose story is correct. It’s a storytelling choice that you would grow to hate if too many movies tried it, but it works nicely here.
Margot Robbie stars in the titular role, and she delivers a hell of a performance. Tonya Harding isn’t the most relatable person, and somehow Robbie makes us sympathize with the character. I found myself astonished at how much I really cared about Harding. That’s a testament to Robbie’s performance. It’s worth the price of admission alone.
The supporting cast is really strong. Allison Janney is going to get all the accolades, as Harding’s mother, but she has the juciest part. She has one job with every line – be the biggest a-hole in the room – and she nails it, but it’s just one note. Sebastian Stan, as Jeff Gillooly, is perhaps more impressive, because, like Robbie, he brings some humanity to a character most of us saw as despicable as we entered the theater. Julianne Nicholson plays Diane, Tonya’s skating coach, but she mostly just exists as a stand-in for the audience, a good person to identify with amid all the ridiculous personalities dominating the screen. In a completely unnecessary but ultimately entertaining role, Bobby Cannavale plays a producer for Hard Copy. In the supporting cast, my favorite performance might have been that of relative unknown Paul Walter Hauser in the role of Shawn Eckhardt, bodyguard to Harding and friend to Gillooly. He’s hilarious in the film, one which really targets Eckhardt as the dim-witted mastermind of the Kerrigan incident.
I, Tonya isn’t perfect, however, and its imperfections lie mostly in a clear directorial preference for style over substance. It suffers from ADD at times, moving so frenetically that you wish you could spend a little more time watching the characters, particularly Harding and Gillooly, develop. It doesn’t take enough time to breathe and let the characters just exist in their moments. How many classic rock songs do we hear the intro to? The soundtrack flips from tune to tune so frequently, it actually becomes distracting.
While Gillespie may not have struck an ideal balance between style and substance, the style is mostly fun, allowing for unique storytelling and a light tone. The performances are all strong, led by a particularly impressive turn from Margot Robbie. That makes I, Tonya one of the must-see films of 2017. Even if it doesn’t really have anything particularly interesting to say about the characters or their motivations, it’s entertaining as hell.
Is it Watchlist-worthy? Yes.